By Amanda Webster
With all the talk about 2012 being the year possibly ending human existence, I found myself reading several books over the summer that dealt with apocalyptic scenarios for planet Earth. Although I am not exactly counting down my days, I enjoy reading stories that keep my mind engaged and focused on a very basic human instinct: survival.
After ordering a couple of books from Amazon, I glanced at the recommended section and saw Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. This book is not based upon Earth’s final days or the struggle for humanity to live on but it is still a story based on survival and had me turning pages anxiously in an attempt to find out what happens next.
This fictional novel takes place in Australia and is told in the first person voice of one of the main characters, Ellie Linton. Ellie and six of her friends from school decide to take a camping trip into a remote part of the wilderness that everyone refers to as “Hell.” The group of kids return to their hometown after a couple of days to find that a very different kind of hell awaits them.
While on the camping trip their country has been invaded by a foreign nation and everyone in the town has been captured and held prisoner. With seemingly no one left in the town, the group of teens must navigate their way through the city without being discovered by enemy forces in an attempt to figure out what exactly has happened to everyone. With electricity and phone lines dead it becomes extremely difficult to find details about the whereabouts of family and friends. The group then decide to wage their own guerilla war against the enemy. Everyone soon learns that it is not safe to stay inside the town, and the group takes refuge in the only place they can find solace, hell.
What really kept me interested in this book was that the concept of the story is not all that far-fetched. The characters are relatable and I found myself wondering, “what would I do in this situation?” The teens are forced to mature very quickly, but the author still manages to capture their adolescent attitude for bickering among the group is a near constant event. All of the characters’ emotions are portrayed well and I found myself becoming frustrated and nervous along with the characters.
My only dislike in this book was that some of the outcomes of the situations were just too lucky for the teenagers. I became skeptical in some of the more perilous dilemmas that the characters were faced with, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this read. The ending will leave you wondering the fate of the main characters along with questions about the impending war. Luckily this is the first installment in a seven book series and I cannot wait to start the next book, The Dead of the Night.
